New RockMelt Socializes Chrome's Omnibox, New Tabs
RockMelt beta 5's new tab page goes heavily social
The new beta adds two social features. One makes changes to the Omnibox, which is Google's name for the feature-rich location bar that lets you search your default search engine, history, and bookmarks simultaneously. The new RockMelt Omnibox lets you import pictures, initiate chats, and search your Facebook contacts. You can also navigate directly to Facebook's new timeline from the Omnibox.
RockMelt's also developed an algorithm to show you in the Omnibox friends that you used to have more Facebook interactions with but haven't connected to in a while. It's not clear how good of an idea this is in a world where people can remain "Facebook friends" with a person long after the friendship itself has deteriorated, but maybe that's why Mark Zuckerberg gave us blocking.
The fifth beta also takes some important steps toward powering up the new tab page. It revises the mildly dynamic "most recent" sites view to build in some people news from Facebook's social graph.
The third new feature expands the browser's support for apps. Always ready with statistics to back his browser, Vishria said that the average RockMelt user has 12 apps installed and opens them 26 times a day, which is why beta 5 comes with better app support. You can expand the "app edge," the sidebar where apps are hosted, and can scroll through installed apps so you're not limited to what can be shown on your screen.
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